MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER

November 8, 2012GARBER'S APOLOGYMLS commissioner says league made mistakes

Don Garber admitted the league made mistakes about the snow at Red Bull ARena on Wednesday night.
Linda Cuttone/Sports Vue Images

MLS comissioner Don Garber issued a statement and an apology concerning what transpired over the snow-delayed playoff game between the Red Bulls and D.C. United.

The game was supposed to be played at Red Bull Arena on Wednesday night, but was switched to Thursday night.

Garber's statement:

I want to apologize to all of our fans who were impacted by our decision last night to postpone the New York Red Bulls v D.C. United playoff game at Red Bull Arena. Many of you made great sacrifices to attend the game and we let you down.

Based on the weather forecasts earlier in the day, we believed that we could still play the game. As you know, soccer is played in inclement weather and we have cancelled very few games in the history of the league. In this case, however, we underestimated the severity of the storm and its effect on our ability to play, and ultimately the enormous impact it had on our fans who traveled to and from Red Bull Arena.

I have heard from many of you about our decision to wait until after the scheduled start time to postpone the game and I know that many of our fans believe that we should have made the decision earlier in the day or even the day before. In retrospect, I wish we had. Although I believe that our intent in trying to preserve the ability to play the match was well meaning, in the end we would have better served our clubs and our fans by making the decision earlier.

I canít change what happened, but I can acknowledge when we make mistakes, even if we were well intentioned.

All of us at Major League Soccer have worked hard to earn your trust and support. You can count on us to continue to work tirelessly to retain it as we build the League.